Previews

GUN

Neversoft is preparing to introduce gamers to the "real" wild west, complete with outlaws, whores, opium, and plenty of firearms.

Spiffy:

Massive world to explore; pull-no-punches adult content; ability to switch from third- to first-person views; wide variety of missions.

Iffy:

We still haven't gotten to check out the controls or the actual game mechanics.

As the developer of Activision's hugely popular Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series of games, Neversoft Entertainment has left an indelible mark on the gaming landscape. The franchise helped to introduce so-called "extreme sports" to the general public, turning the Hawkman into a household name in the process. Not surprisingly, though, the team wanted to move in a different direction after finishing THUG 2 last year. So where does a developer go after conquering the world of ollies and 720s? Why, to the old west, a time and place that serves as the setting for their most ambitious title to date: the simply (yet aptly) titled GUN.

With GUN, Neversoft is aiming to introduce gamers to the "real" wild west, not the one that has been overly romanticized in movies and television shows. There are no white-clad heroes coming to save the day here, just a motley collection of hygienically-impaired outlaws, whores (and not the "with a heart of gold" variety), and rich, eye patch-sporting bad guys. The game puts you in control of Colton White, a Civil War veteran who has no home to return to. It seems that White's mountain man father was murdered, and the only clue Colton has is a coin that his father got from a whore named Jenny.

The first thing that you'll notice about GUN is the sheer size of the world that's been created by Neversoft. You'll be able to explore every inch of the southwestern setting, from the buttes and plateaus in the desert to the saloons and whorehouses in the towns. While you can certainly walk from place to place, you're generally better off finding a faster means of transportation, be it riding on your trusty steed or catching a stagecoach. Once you're moving, finding your way around is as simple as looking at the radar on the bottom of your screen.

Since the entire world is streaming, there are no load times once you turn your system on. This was never clearer than in the moment when Colton walked into a bar, the camera seamlessly adjusting behind him to compensate for the tighter space. For the most part, GUN shows players the action from the third-person perspective, with the camera hovering just above and behind White's head. However, once the inevitable gun battles start, you can shift the perspective to a first-person view and slow things down if you've built up your "Quick Draw" meter, allowing you to aim precisely. This comes in handy on many occasions, especially when you're trying to blast a weapon out of a foe's hand or kill a hostage-taker. We weren't given much indication as to how the Quick Draw mode will work, but it looks like getting head shots will be one way to build it up.